'That try changed my life': 30 years on, Steve Renouf reflects on the moment that turned a sparkie into a superstar

In the lead-up to the 1992 NSWRL grand final, Brisbane centre Steve Renouf was a fourth-year apprentice electrician and a mighty fine footballer.

After the Broncos’ 28-8 win over St George in the decider, in which he scored a 98m try that has since been replayed countless times, he was a superstar of the game.

And that status was reinforced one month later when he scored the winning try in Australia’s 10-6 victory over Great Britain in the World Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

Ahead of this Sunday’s NRL grand final between Penrith and Parramatta, Renouf says his story just shows what an iconic try in a decider can do for a player’s life and profile.

With the Rugby League World Cup to kick off next month, his own experience also shows how a grand final performance for the ages can springboard a career.

“That try in the grand final did change my life,” Renouf told AAP.

“After that I left the country for weeks with the Australian side and missed the hullabaloo back in Brisbane.

“When I got back from the World Cup my sister-in-law said, ‘Do you know you are a superstar?” I told her, ‘No’. I really had no idea.

“My grand final try, and then one in the World Cup final, launched my profile.”

Three years later, at the height of Super League war, Renouf signed a four-year deal with the Broncos for $2 million.

While on the surface Renouf’s try could be regarded as an individual effort, he said it was in essence a genuine team try.

Brisbane winger Willie Carne did a great job to collect a grubber and get the ball out of the in-goal. Hooker Kerrod Walters popped into dummy-half but was thrown out of there by his twin brother Kevin, who shifted the ball straight to halfback Allan Langer.

Langer fired it out to Renouf who ran the length to score with Dragons winger Ricky Walford in hot pursuit.

“That was a play. We did that all season,” Renouf recalled.

“Our coach Wayne Bennett’s exact words that season were, ‘You outside backs, if a kick goes through get your arses back there just in case Kevvie or Alf see something’. That was a perfect example of a great team try.”

Steve Renouf (Photo by Getty Images)

As Renouf got to halfway his thoughts turned to his parents Nerida and Charlie.

“My mum was in the crowd and I knew she was watching. Dad had passed away at the start of the year and I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to do this’,” Renouf said.

“That try was for my dad because he wasn’t there. It is funny that halfway through I thought about it.

“I’d had a quiet match. Ray Warren said in commentary, ‘We haven’t seen much of him today’. That was so true. I still cop it about that.”

It was a stellar moment for a 22-year-old who still worked while playing footy.

“At that time I was a fourth year apprentice electrician at the Mater Hospital,” Renouf recalled.

“I would start work at 7am and they would let me go and train at 10am. They gave me time off either side of the grand final but then I got picked for the World Cup and went away with Australia.

“I went back to work and I was digging a trench with one of my tradies and good mates John Hunter. It was hot-as. I said, ‘I’ve had enough. It’s your turn’. He said, ‘No, it’s not’. I said, ‘Stuff you. I just won a grand final’ and threw the pick down and walked back to the workshop.”

It was a World Cup to remember for Renouf. The Broncos were in England preparing for the World Club Challenge and in the crowd at Wembley for the final. In the second half, his great friend and Broncos teammate Kevin Walters threw him a wonderful ‘out-ball’ pass and Renouf scored the match winner.

“Kevvie was saying to me, ‘Do you want the ball or not?’ and I kept saying ‘No, no … I don’t want it’.

“You see him get the ball and sprint across the back of the ruck and virtually force me to run into a hole. He timed the pass so well, as he always did for me with his out-balls. I just had to get my butt there.”

Hardly a day goes by where Renouf doesn’t get someone remind him of the grand final try.

“They say, ‘What about your try in the 1993 grand final’ and I say, ‘No, it was 1992’. They forget which one. I get that all the time especially around finals time.

“We had our 30-year Broncos reunion this year and there was talk around Ray Warren’s commentary. For me it is always, ‘We haven’t seen much of him today’ and for Willie Carne, Rabs says, ‘It’s a test for Carne … oh it’s no test for Carne’. It is so funny. We yelled it out at the reunion while we were watching the replay.”

The Nine Network once did a special segment about the try and asked Renouf if he had a message for Walford, who valiantly chased him all the way to the tryline.

“I love Ricky but my message to him was, ‘You haven’t caught me yet brother’,” Renouf grinned.